1. Music Magazine Evaluation For as media studies music magazine coursework, I chose to create a magazine with the genre of hip hop and r’n’b. I have decided to target it towards males and females as if I were to distribute it would be popular amongst both genders. I targeted it towards young adults aged 16 – 24.

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products. I did this by turning my attention to every part of detail, from comparing different hip hop and r’n’b magazines and picking out key points such as layout, and interpreting and developing them into my own ideas to use on my product. I chose to keep my pages formed with a straight forward and simple layout. I looked at hip hop and r’n’b magazines such as ‘Vibe’ and ‘Billboard’ and online magazine, ‘RWD’. This gave me a brief outline of the layout and design. I found that for their photograph on the front covers have a certain colour scheme that matches the rest of the typography, as it makes it very eye catching and also shows the link that they are the big important feature. Firstly, the masthead that I have created is bold, harsh, dynamic and powerful, which connotes masculinity, which is quite conventional for a hip hop and r’n’b magazine, but by adding the white shadow behind the text, I feel as though a have made it less harsh and targeting towards masculinity, although my audience is of males and females. I have used a sans serif font in order to keep the convention of a real media product. The colour of the masthead, ‘Urban Beats’, has a gradient of red to black. I decided to do this because towards the bottom of the title it slightly blends into the background. This then draws the reader to look down towards the rest of the front cover. I kept the same font style within all three of my designed pages, which was sans serif. When I compared and researched into different magazines I found that the font styles are the same, this is so it would have a professional consistency and make it look more appealing. However I challenged the conventions as I used a serif font style for my double page spread. I did this as I thought it looked appealing and fit with the genre of my magazine. My magazine suggests that it’s for the hip hop and r’n’b genre through the written content and clothing of the artist on the front cover. On the front cover I have listed a name of artists as small cover lines. The clothing that the artist is wearing is a grey and black hood. This connotes the hip hop and r’n’b genre as hoods are normally associated with it. When comparing and challenging the forms and conventions of a real hip hop and r’n’b magazine, I found that the colours and layout that I had used are conventional. [As seen below] For my front cover, contents page and double page spread, I stuck to the same colour scheme as makes it much more eye catching. Furthermore, they are also very bold as they stand out and have a bright contrast against the black background. By doing this I wanted to show how important the colour scheme is. Front Cover Double page spread Contents

3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My media products represents a particular social group by focusing of the type of music, the language and the lifestyle and clothing. I have purposely done this in order to attract a number of audiences from hip hop and r’n’b genre. By comparing my image that I had used for my front cover to the front cover of ‘Billboard’ magazine, I feel that I have stuck to the structure of a center medium shot image with sharp eye contact. I have made it the most dominant feature of the page. The posture of my artist suggests that he is linked to this genre as has his head up with eye contact and hands in his pockets, which shows a lot of confidence as he seems to be laid back and relaxed. He also has a firm and strong expression on his face. This stands out quite a lot, and when compared to other magazines, it is similar. His eyes do more of the talking rather than anything else. I challenged the conventional and stereotypical views of iconic symbols represented within the hip hop and r’n’b culture. I did this by using an Asian male rather than a black or white male, as representational issues, as for this culture they are normally represented as white or black, big, tall masculine men. The lighting I used to created this sharp, bold image was from the front but slightly from an angle, only to show slight shadow on the other side of the face. I chose to do this as I thought it gave an improved dimension. Furthermore it also links back to the genre, as it suggests he’s not just as singer/songwriter and that there is more to him. The masthead, ‘Urban Beats’, instantly give the impression that this magazine is some type of urban music, which is normally associated with hip hop, r’n’b, funky and other styles of music that is also associated with a lot of young adults. For the content of my magazine, I used informal language. I chose to do this so it would draw the target audience closer and it also appeals to the audience. It represents this particular group as they tend to use informal language a lot and also seem to understand it. The costume that the artist is wearing is a grey and black hood. This connotes the hip hop and r’n’b genre as hoods are normally associated with it, it’s also branded. This represents the young adults from this culture/genre as they are normally seen wearing these types of clothing, especially ones that are branded. I would associate the social group that my magazine has been targeted towards with C1, C2 or D on the standard occupational classification, this is because the target audience or the particular social group would most likely to be highly skilled tradesman, skilled or unskilled. Furthermore, you wouldn’t associate hip hop and r’n’b with colours, layout and informal language in the way young adults speak now-days with A or B occupational classes as they would most likely read a magazine that is totally opposite to mine and also probably more targeted towards a specific item or part within the music industry. I think that my music magazine clearly represents the social group that it has been targeted for and I have shown this through the mise-en-scene of the image.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? When researching about the publishers of major magazines, I researched into Bauer, IPC and Future. For Bauer the types of magazines that they publish are women’s weeklies, women’s interest and TV listings, with an audience of women aged 24-55 with children. But Bauer Media publish successful music magazines such as Q and Kerrang. They also publish popular magazines such as FHM, Heat and Grazia. This shows that this publishing company aims to target both males and females ageing from 24-40. IPC focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. They publish a range of magazines, such as sports, fashion and music. They publish music magazines such as NME. Their audience range from 24 to 55, but there are magazines that have specifically been targeted towards a gender. They publish a range of sports magazines, but a lot of them are about golf and cycling. This shows that the target audience are male who are ages 24+. IPC publish a few fashion magazines and women’s weeklies which are targeted mainly towards women aging from 23/24+. Future publishes a range of highly priced magazines such as gaming and technology, but for music it’s mainly to do with guitars, but other magazines include, rock and heavy metal. Their music magazines are targeted towards males, who are probably branded with tattoos and have funky hairstyles when wear tight leather with chains, but the content also attracts a variety of women too. The age range of their audience are around 25-55. This attracts an enormous amount of audiences. Future are global publishers and print and distribute their magazine across the world. As their magazines are specific they target a niche audience. I think that the media institution that might distribute my magazine would be Bauer Media or IPC. This is because they target a mass market audience. As IPC publishes magazine specifically target to an audience I think that they would publish my magazine to a specific audience. Furthermore Bauer Media are more likely to publish my magazine as it’s a different genre to the one’s they already publish. This would then bring in a greater number of audience. As Bauer Media help promote things for a cross media production, such as KISS 100 who specialise in r’n’b, hip hop and urban dance fusion. They have their own TV channel and radio station. From this I think that if Bauer Media published mine, they could promote the magazine further by paring it with KISS 100. Furthermore I also think that geodemographically, they would publish and distribute my magazine within areas of London especially that have a wide population on young adults such as Stratford in east London, Harrow in north west London and possibly south east London, in Hackney. If Bauer were to publish and distribute my magazine, in order to promote and have a bigger market, to create a mass market product, they would also publish and distribute in English speaking countries, such as USA and urban areas.

5. Who would be the audience for your media product? When I planned and during the process of my magazine I was aiming for the audience to be males and females, and specifically those who are young adults aged 16 – 24and into hip hop and r’n’b music. I decided to target it towards males and females, this is because if I were to distribute across the country or even worldwide, it wouldn’t restrict which gender would buy my magazine. I made sure that it didn’t turn out to look like a males magazine. I did this by mentioning female artist on the front cover and also on the contents page, moreover by have a good looking male featured artist on my front cover, it would also attract more attention from females. If I were to create advertising pages, I would have a few specifically targeted towards males or females. This is so it would keep attracting both genders and keep them engaged in the magazine rather than just one gender. If I were to create a customer profile on those who would buy my magazine they would most probably shop at high street stores such as JD, River Island, New Look, H&M, Footlocker, Topshop and Topmanand many more. This is because many young adults like to be up to date with the fashion and also some consumers may have a passion for dance which is also linked with music. So they would shop at stores that have clothing that you see in music videos such at Nike trainers or and Adidas tracksuit. They would be into just R’n’B, just Hip Hop, or both or they could also have an interest for Funky House, Dubstep and Garage too. This is because a variety of young adults are into a few types of music instead of just sticking to one, because as they get older, they would most probably stick to one or two genres of music. The audience would also have favourite TV programmes such as those that are shown on specific music channels. I think this because many young adults tend to watch reality TV shows that are shown on music channels such as MTV.

6. How did you attract/address your audience? I attracted or addressed my audience in a number of ways. Firstly, for my front cover I made sure that the artist is giving striking eye contact, the stance/body language and through the clothing that they portray as this relates to who they are and the culture they project. This is very important as it gives the reader an easy communication with the artist. As my artist on my cover has striking eyes, this enabled me to attract an audience because when you have a first glance at my cover you instantly see the eyes. Furthermore his eyes look relaxed as they aren’t squinted, suggesting that he’s a calm and relaxed person. Throughout the pages of my magazine that I had produced, I kept to a certain colour scheme of red, black, yellow and white. I made sure that none of these colours clashed in order to make my page stand out. Initially I started off with red, white and black. This is because the clothing in the photos used of my artist, as he’s wearing red and black, however I used white in order to keep the attention as having just red and black would have been boring. It gives a greater affect. Also when I researched into magazine, on each page I had stuck to a colour scheme, especially on the front cover. The reason for using red is because I wanted to emphasise on the content of the magazine, suggesting that the article about his is red hot gossip. The layout and colour leads you down towards the rest of the page, for example my mast head has a gradient effect of red to black, and as the background is black, it starts to blend into the background making the reader lead their eyes down the page. From this you see the eye contact and the artist’s name. The coverlinesI added catches your eyes after as they are a different colour, yellow and white. And at the bottom the coverline that would draw the biggest attraction to that issue of the magazine. I added a bonus in the bottom left hand corner of the page about free posters. I placed it there because when the magazine is stacked on shop shelves, the main content (magazine title and main cover lines) are the only information shown, to be seen at first glance and for my magazine you will also be able to see the free promotion. When thinking about my layout and design I decided to use the rule of thirds in order to make the magazine simple to read and very eye catching. For my contents page, the immediate attraction goes towards the left hand side of the page, which contains a photograph of the featured artist but in a different pose. The light in the background coming in from the left hand side gives a bigger emphasis on the photograph. I decided to place this image here because after you've glanced at it yours attention turns towards the colour co-ordinated written content on the right hand side. I decided to use dots as dividers so it would make the contents page look appealing and easier to read and understand overall. The colour of the written contents have been kept the same as those used on the front cover. I chose to do this because I thought it would still keep the reader’s attention, rather than have completely different colours from my scheme. The language used was informal as I decided to use words that young adults would understand in order to engage them with the content of my magazine and I also used persuasive language to encourage the reader to read on. The fonts used are sharp fonts; this is so it can relate to the type of music this magazine is for. By using images of other artists, I made sure that all the attention was not mainly stuck on the featured artist, as through my magazine I wanted to promote others, for example, I used an image of ‘Showaman Sparka’ and also made it stand out from the black background in order to make it striking and promoting. Yet again, red is a dominant colour used in the article. I created colour coordinated double page spread. I chose to stick to the colour scheme in order to keep the attention towards the featured artist and also create a small identity within that magazine. ‘Esh’ is in big bold red lettering, showing who the person is in the image and also suggesting that the article about his red hot gossip. The image I have decided to use has been put in this layout and format so it can instantly attract attention. The medium shot of him is so it can attract more of an audience as he could be considered as an iconic musician. This image has also been put in this layout and format so it can instantly attract attention. When you read a magazine you read from left to right, and by having the full bleed image of ‘Esh’, gives an instant attraction. The content of this double page spread targets the audience by using formal and informal language. From this we can see that this magazine suits the audience it’s specifically targeted at, as you wouldn’t use the words ‘fucking bitch’ on a children’s magazine.

7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I produced all my pages on Adobe Photoshop instead of Adobe InDesign. This is because I have been working with this programme for quite a few years and trying to use InDesign was not difficult to use but frustrating, as some of the tools were complicated. Although many people would say Photoshop is much more difficult but I find it very easy to use. As I haven’t used InDesign before, however my skills for that programme have grown and improved. I used many different types of technology processors in the making of this magazine, for example, the internet. I also used different forms of media to do my research and complete my magazine. The use of search engines were useful as I got a lot of information from a variety of different links. From this I could save the best websites in order to keep track and go back to it. However I found that in order to get the exact and correct information that I needed I had to type in the exact question into the search engine. From doing this it could also lead to finding websites that completely take you off the track so it’s important that I had to stay within the specific topic. By keeping the search engine to search the web of UK websites only, it would stop other websites from appearing , such as American websites, from giving me information about American music magazines. But when using the internet, I had to make sure I used information that is up to date and also use images that have copyright permission or images with out copyright. When searching online, I had to remember that the content of an online magazine is different to a hard copy. An issue for this would be because many younger people read online copies rather then buying magazines it’s also more interactive. In order for me to get my information about my featured artist for the interview, I decided to do it over the phone. This is because I found it much easier as he lives quite far in order for me to sit down and have a conversation interview face to face. However I used the Nikon D3000 digital camera to take the images of my featured artist. Other equipment needed for this photo shoot was a flash light, backlight and a black backdrop. I chose to do a photo shoot indoors like these in order to get better quality images and make the images seem professional. I also used a Nikon D60 digital camera in order to get the images of another artist for the magazine. When using the digital cameras I had to be aware of the type of technology within the camera. As a photographer I had to make sure all the settings on the camera were correct , such as exposure , ISO and aperture. The most thing that I thought I found difficult in the process of the construction of this magazine was trying to get the hang of using a new programme, InDesign. At the beginning that I used Indesign I started to develop my skills however I prefer Photoshop. I was able to complete my magazine to a better standard by using this programme. When doing the photo shoot, I found that finding the time to actually take the pictures difficult, as I had to wait until my artist was free. When searching on the web, trying to find copyright free images was the most difficult. This is because there aren’t many websites without copyright, which resulted in me not being able to used the type of pictures I was looking for. When I analysed another music magazine, such as Q, I created a power point presentation. I found that this was much better than writing out an essay as I could show the strong points on analysis but also make it quick and brief yet easy to read. I used ‘slideshare’, which was simple to upload files to, to show the evidence of my work on my blog. I think by my use of skills and programme knowledge on Photoshop, I made every page unique, as each page that I have created for my magazine stands out individually.

8. Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to final product? Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that have learnt a variety of new things and I also feel that I have also expanded on my knowledge about how to analyse magazines and use the key media language and terms. Here is a shot of my preliminary front cover and next to it my final cover. From this we can clearly see a huge difference of the use of skill and perfection. My preliminary task was designed in InDesign CS4. It has a simple look and layout with dull colours. However I did keep to a specific colour scheme, as the masthead had a blue font and I also kept the cover lines in blue too. I also stuck to a specific layout, by having cover lines on either side. The photograph was a primary source taken by a Nikon D60 digital camera. By looking at the cover, you can see that it addresses the target audience quite clearly, which is shown through the image and the cover lines. On the other hand, the final front cover for my music magazine has a simple layout, yet with skills and perfection, I think the layout stands out extremely well. It has a specific colour scheme which creates an instant attraction to the audience. This would help promotion of the magazine as the audience would remember the colours followed by the magazine. It addresses the target audience as the image has a centre composition and as a representational issue, the clothing that the artist is wearing represents those from the hip hop and r’n’b culture. Also the colours used aren’t dull or just one colour with different tones. For the contents page, the preliminary task, again like the front cover, has a very basic simple layout, but they are very clear. Again, I stuck to a colour scheme in order to create a page that the audience can link to. They are very basic and standard colours that aren’t really eye catching. However, my final contents page has a specific colour scheme that links to the featured artist’s photo and also with the front cover. I did this intentionally in order to maintain the attraction. Furthermore, I think that this page addresses my target audience very well. The full bleed photo creates the scene, mood and atmosphere of what you would possibly see in a hip hop or r’n’b music video or other professional posters. Overall through the magazine that I have created, I think I have positioned the audience to see the hip hop and r’n’b culture in a different way to which everyone normally defines it. From the photographs I have taken of my artists, I have represented them as who they are as artists but also shown them to be quite laid back and calm looking. This then contrasts with what people would normally expect these sort of artist to look like. The question is does everybody like it? No of course not, as every individual is different. Through different institutions and language, I understand that I have created a magazine targeted at a specific type of audience and have addressed them accordingly. I think I have learnt many different key skills, language and techniques throughout the production of this magazine. Looking back at the beginning of this task up to now, I would say that my creativity and development ideas have improved.